An introduction to plasma astrophysics and magnetohydrodynamics.
The book gives a general introduction to plasma astrophysics and magnetohydrodynamics, and discusses phenomena important for magnetic confinements of the plasma. The basic principles of plasmas in magnetic fields are analyzed in the first two chapters. Here the author presents the main physical aspects of plasmas: the Boltzmann equation, isotropic and anisotropic distribution functions, plasma oscillations, Debye shielding, collisions, Larmor motion an so on. The traditional derivations of single fluid equations for mass, momentum and energy are given in the third chapter. Chapter fourth is devoted to the general behavior of ideal and non-ideal plasmas in magnetic fields. In the fifth chapter, the main attention is given to the dynamics of magnetized plasmas. Here Alfvén and magnetosonic waves are reviewed. An introduction to solar wind problems is given in the largest sixth chapter of the book. Here the static model of solar corona, the plasma flow through Laval nozzle, Parker isothermal model and Weber-Davis model for solar wind and mechanisms of wind rotation are discussed. The main parts of the book include recapitulations and problems. This book may be useful to advanced graduate students and scientists that are working in other fields of physics.
scientific article; zbMATH DE number 2044000